Ron Wilson | |||
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Born |
Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
May 13, 1956 ||
Height | 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) | ||
Weight | 180 lb (82 kg; 12 st 12 lb) | ||
Position | Centre | ||
Shot | Left | ||
Played for |
Winnipeg Jets St. Louis Blues Montreal Canadiens |
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NHL Draft | 133rd overall, 1976 Montreal Canadiens |
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Playing career | 1976–1996 |
Ronald Lee Wilson (born May 13, 1956) is a former professional ice hockey centreman and current coach. Wilson's professional playing career spans twenty seasons, including fourteen in the National Hockey League. Following his retirement, he turned to coaching and held assistant and head coach positions for various American Hockey League teams. On August 9, 2011, the Montreal Canadiens announced that they had hired Wilson as the assistant to the Hamilton Bulldogs' coach Clément Jodoin.
Wilson was born in Toronto and played junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey Association with the Toronto Marlboros, Hamilton Red Wings and St. Catharines Black Hawks. He was drafted 133rd overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1976 NHL Amateur Draft and started playing for the Canadiens' American Hockey League affiliate, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs. After three seasons with the team, Wilson was traded to the Winnipeg Jets who had just joined the National Hockey League following the NHL–WHA merger. He immediately made the team and played nine seasons in Winnipeg with minor league stints with the Tulsa Oilers and Sherbrooke Jets. Wilson spent the entire 1988-89 season and part of the 1989-90 season with the Moncton Hawks (the Jets minor league affiliate) before being traded to the St. Louis Blues for Doug Evans. He spent four seasons with the Blues before signing as a free agent with the Montreal Canadiens. Wilson's season in Montreal was his last in the NHL but he played two more years in the International Hockey League (Detroit Vipers and San Diego Gulls) and the East Coast Hockey League (Wheeling Thunderbirds). In total, Wilson played 832 career NHL games over fourteen seasons, scoring 110 goals and 216 assists for 326 points and amassing 415 penalty minutes.